{"id":37583,"date":"2014-05-16T17:17:10","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T21:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=37583"},"modified":"2014-05-16T17:17:10","modified_gmt":"2014-05-16T21:17:10","slug":"the-secret-key-to-your-trading-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-secret-key-to-your-trading-success","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Key to Your Trading Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those of you who knew me early on in my trading career, you\u2019ll remember that I\u2019ve had some great failures. I\u2019ve made mistakes, had repeated losses and have felt like I was never going to make it at times.<\/p>\n

Luckily for me I had already secret knowledge required to become a great trader and once I discovered I already had it, things began to quickly turn in my favor. This secret knowledge helped me go from an aspiring trader who was losing money and frantically jumping around from system to system, getting nowhere, into the trader that I am today in a very short period of time by most peoples standards.<\/p>\n

So what is this secret knowledge that was responsible such a dramatic change in my results?<\/p>\n

First let me tell you what it wasn\u2019t. It wasn\u2019t finding the perfect set of trading rules or some new adjustment strategy. It wasn\u2019t continually trying the next new thing that came along. It wasn\u2019t trying to find the perfect entry. And it wasn\u2019t sitting there spending hours on things that don\u2019t matter like the exact day you should enter and diving deep into every possible thing I could know about the Greeks.<\/p>\n

Here is the secret to your success in trading<\/p>\n

Know specifically what you want in great detail. Not just how much money you want to make but how much time you want to spend trading, the amount of draw downs you are willing to experience and the amount of risk you are willing to put up with, and be realistic. For example if you say I want to make 100% on my account per year, I want no draw downs, I want to look at my positions once a week and not take on any risk. That\u2019s like saying I want to make a million dollars a year as a pro basketball player, and all I\u2019m willing to do to is buy some courses on how to play basketball and practice a few times a week. It\u2019s not going to happen that way and you\u2019ll need to change your expectations or you are wasting your time. It\u2019s the same way with trading.<\/p>\n

Take action with intention. Make lots of trades, not just one per month, try 30 per month or more. Find someone who is getting the results you want in the fashion you\u2019d like to get them and model them. Decide on a system or set of systems that have the potential to get the results you want and then work with that system until it works for you. This is key, you are not going to find some set of rules that are instantly going to get you the results you want. You are going to have to pick a system and work with it for extended periods of time and experience many failures before it works for you, and even then, you will still experience losing periods. That\u2019s just part of trading and if you cannot deal with it save yourself a lot of time and money and find a new profession.<\/p>\n

Have situational awareness. Notice what is working and what isn\u2019t as well as when certain things are effective and when they are not. Notice EVERYTHING and then record it so you can reference the information later.<\/p>\n

Exercise behavioral flexibility. When something isn\u2019t working, find out why and change your approach. This does not mean switch systems! This means make modifications as needed to adapt your system so that it works. There is a big difference. If you had done your research, you should have already determined that the system was capable of reaching your goals, so you should be able to make it work. If for some reason you have exhausted the possibilities and have definitely determined the system or a modified version of the system will not fit your wants, only then should you switch programs.<\/p>\n

Operate from a psychology of excellence. Even if you found the Holy Grail you\u2019ve been looking for, it\u2019s not going to do you any good if you don\u2019t follow it or if you become overly stresses out or if you take on a negative mindset. As soon as this happens no trading system is going to work, ever. Therefore it is essential that you acquire and maintain a positive mindset. I\u2019ve seen many people give up on great trading systems solely because of mindset issues and I\u2019ve also seen people achieve amazing results with very simplistic systems that most experts pass off as poor systems. What\u2019s the difference? The mindset!<\/p>\n

Utilize anything and everything to your advantage. If the market makes a move against your position or if you take a major loss or if you make a mistake, NEVER sit there and get upset and ask \u201cWhy did this happen to me?\u201d or \u201cHow could I be so stupid?\u201d All that does is make your brain come up with some stupid answer that is going to have absolutely no benefit to you. Instead ask yourself empowering questions that will help you become a better trader or make a better choice next time. Ask questions like \u201cHow can I best take advantage of this move?\u201d or \u201cWhat can I do next time to insure I make a better decision?\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on how to become an outstanding trader, click here to learn about our One on One Coaching and Trading Triangle Programs<\/a>\u00a0!<\/p>\n

Live with passion!<\/p>\n

John Locke<\/p>\n

No relevant positions<\/p>\n

Risk disclaimer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those of you who knew me early on in my trading career, you\u2019ll remember that I\u2019ve had some great failures. I\u2019ve made mistakes, had repeated losses and have felt like I was never going to make it at times. Luckily for me I had already secret knowledge required to become a great trader and once I discovered I already … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1040,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1532,1088,3926,1402,2063,908,455],"tags":[4703,4688,4698,1598,1259,4693,81,2451,4706,4707,55,1193,653,38,301,2445,1354,1989,4690,1349,1888,207],"class_list":["post-37583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-blog","category-health-and-trading","category-john-locke-3","category-options-education","category-smb-options-2","category-traders-ask","category-trading_psychology","tag-learn-trading","tag-options-education","tag-options-mentoring","tag-options-strategies","tag-options-trading","tag-options-training","tag-smb-training","tag-stock-market-course","tag-stock-trading-education","tag-stock-training","tag-trade","tag-trader-education","tag-trader-training","tag-trading","tag-trading-blog","tag-trading-careers","tag-trading-coach","tag-trading-course","tag-trading-education","tag-trading-mentor","tag-trading-school","tag-trading-stocks","no-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Secret Key to Your Trading Success | SMB Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/the-secret-key-to-your-trading-success\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Secret Key to Your Trading Success | SMB Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For those of you who knew me early on in my trading career, you\u2019ll remember that I\u2019ve had some great failures. 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